CONTENTS

Photography Club Invites You, Your Camera & Flash, Oct. 23

Sherman County School District Communication to the Community

Sherman Development League Grant/Loan Applications

Notice: Frontier Regional 911 Dispatch Board Meeting, Oct. 30

Taking a Risk

Oregonian’s Tax Surplus Credit, or “Kicker,” Corrected & Certified

Links: Things to Think About & Things to Do

1.Photography Club Invites You, Your Camera & Flash, Oct. 23

Come and meet with the Sherman County Photography Club on Monday, October 23. Meeting starts at 6pm at the Steve Burnet Extension building in Moro. Bring your camera and flash and learn about Flash Photography.

2. Sherman County School District Communication to the Community

3. Sherman Development League Grant/Loan Applications

Sherman Development League (SDL) grant application forms for projects and/or programs in Sherman County are available. Grants can be applied for by 501(c)(3) and other non-profit organizations. Organizations that have received a grant from SDL are not eligible to apply until their current grant requirements have been met. Revolving loan funds are also available to for-profit entities and businesses.

Applications will be accepted until November 15, 2017, and grants will be awarded by February 1, 2018.

• A brief description of your project.
• State if the project is a capital expenditure, one-time program or pilot project, emergency assistance or a loan request.
• Identify the type of organization requesting funding.

5. Taking a Risk

Do you consider yourself a risk-taker? For a great many of us, the answer would be, “No!” In this day and age, that isn’t an unreasonable response. In myriad places around the world, taking a risk, and failing, sometimes requires the ultimate price to be paid. However, today, let’s take a slightly different look at this question regarding risk.

In one of his many books, Leo Buscaglia wrote that, “To laugh is to risk appearing a fool, to weep is to risk appearing too sentimental, to reach out for another is to risk involvement, and to expose feelings is to risk exposing one’s true self.

“To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss, to love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, to try is to risk failure.

“But all risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

“The person who risks nothing also does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. If we avoid risk, we may avoid suffering and sorrow, but we simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live.”

By now, you are probably agreeing with Leo Buscaglia. If, out of our fears, we refuse to risk, we also forfeit our freedom because only a person who risks is truly free. Only a person who risks can grow, because all personal growth involves risk.

If you stay focused on the benefits of the risk, instead of putting all your energy into worrying about what could go wrong, and if you consistently affirm and visualize what achievement will look and feel like, it will be much easier for you to take the risks you need to take, in order to grow and to be the best you can be. ~The Pacific Institute

6. Oregonians’ Tax Surplus Credit, or “Kicker,” Corrected & Certified

SALEM, Oregon–A corrected rate for Oregonians’ tax surplus credit, or “kicker,” for the 2016 tax year has been certified by the Office of Economic Analysis (OEA) since previous public announcements. The more than $463 million total tax surplus remains the same.

The surplus will be returned to taxpayers through a credit on their 2017 state personal income tax returns filed in 2018. No “kicker checks” will be issued as there were in the past, although a taxpayer’s kicker credit may make up some or all of a regular refund check.

To calculate the amount of your credit, multiply your 2016 tax liability before any credits–line 24 on the 2016 Form OR-40–by 5.6 percent. This is the corrected rate, as determined and certified by OEA. Taxpayers who claimed a credit for tax paid to another state subtract the credit amount to their liability before calculating the kicker.

You’re eligible to claim the kicker if you filed a 2016 tax return and had tax due before credits. Even if you don’t have a filing obligation for 2017, you still have to file a 2017 tax return to claim your credit. There will be detailed information on how to claim your credit in the 2017 Oregon personal income tax return instructions: Form OR-40 for full-year Oregon residents, Form OR-40-P for part-year residents, and Form OR-40-N for nonresidents. Composite and fiduciary-income tax return filers are also eligible.

Keep in mind that the state may use all or part of your kicker to pay any state debt you owe, such as tax due for other years, child support, court fines, or school loans.

A What’s My Kicker? calculator will be active on Revenue’s website for personal income tax filers when filing season opens in January. To calculate your kicker, you’ll enter your name, Social Security number, and filing status for 2016 and 2017.

You can visit www.oregon.gov/dor to get forms, check the status of your refund, or make payments. You can call (503) 378-4988 or (800) 356-4222 (toll-free) or email questions.dor@oregon.gov for additional assistance. For TTY for hearing or speech impaired, call (800) 886-7204.